What Lurks Beneath the Durasteel?
by Nina Modaffari
Summary: What was it in Grievous's eyes that seemed so...human?


General Grievous is a monster.

I first saw him in Hypori, the fiend, he ambushed our group of Jedi, herded us to certain doom like we were animals, and then, he reeked havoc. In a split second, the General disappeared, we had him in sight, and in a flash, he was gone. We all knew what was coming next, so we bonded together to form a huge group, it would be harder for him to take us down.

He had already taken one of us down.

I did not know if I was going to live or not.

The horns that grew on top of my head sensed space, and I found very little around me. Even though I was unsure about my fate, I decided to fight like a warrior; I was going down a Jedi, not a coward. I stared in to Ki-Adi-Mundi's eyes, and found tranquility; he was thinking the same thing as I. The crystal energy that was my lightsaber hummed softly; ready to strike like a bee's sting.

My name is Shakk Ti.

And I am a Jedi.

We gathered together closely, preparing for what was to come next. Stillness filled the air in a negative void of energy. And then suddenly, the monster struck.

His blend of lightsabers sliced and cut the group of Jedi. We separated, which was exactly what he wanted us to do. He spun his body like a propeller; his lightsabers flashing elegantly like a lightshow.

I poised, and then stuck.

He deflected it as if swatting a fly.

I flew across the opposite side of the empty remains of a ship bunker, my head hitting the wall with tremendous force. I felt blood trickle down my forehead and onto my robes, but I was not giving up yet.

I would slay this monster.

I sprinted back up to the fight, barely missing a corpse of a Jedi.

A Jedi I had known personally.

He slayed my family.

I screamed and cursed as I ran towards the bio-droid General, ready to force my sabers into his guts, enflame his black heart…

He turned to me and chuckled.

"Poor Jedi, thinking she could actually beat me? Pathetic." He teased, "What is the Jedi Order coming to these days, it's full of weak cowards!"

I tried to slash my lightsabers through his throat, but he blocked me easily. He was virtually unbeatable. Ki-Adi-Mundi lay at the other side of the bunker, unconscious. I called out for his name, I knew without him, I would be killed in a matter of seconds. He lazily opened his eyes, and then in a swift movement, rushed over to save me.

But the bio-droid General would not have it that way.

He raised his durasteel fist, and with the force of a star fighter's cannon, swept my body into oblivion.

My vision went black.

I awoke, five days later, in a bacta fluid. White robes swirled around my weak form, healing the numerous cuts and bruises that riddled my body. The medics saw that I had awoken, and fished my body from the tank.

I saw Ki-Adi-Mundi look sorrowfully at me, three scars ran down his temple to his chin, mementos of the cyborg's duel. My eyes stung as Ki-Adi-Mundi told me the terrible news.

More than three Jedi had fallen.

And Aayla was barley surviving.

Worst of all, Grievous had escaped.

Again.

Years passed, and General Grievous soon became the icon of evil, the devil, in some cases, in the eyes of millions.

But we had not come into contact since.

And then, just when it seemed the Republic would take back command, _he_ invaded. I heard the servos and gyros searing as the cyborg scaled up the 500 meter building, memories of that day filled my mind.

I knew what was coming.

I poised myself for the worst.

In the past years, information had leaked out about the General's "tragic" past. People had blamed the Jedi for what the General had become, and the Jedi knew better than to argue with them.

After all, it _was_ their fault.

Some people did feel bad for the General, but it was hard to feel bad when he was trying to kill you.

I rushed over to the bunker, I had escaped the merciless MagnaGuards with sheer luck. They had receded back into the shadows; I knew what they meant.

My fellow Jedi had fallen, and the Chancellor was in Grievous's grasp.

My legs screamed in protest as I hastily ran to the bunker, I opened the regal doors to see the Chancellor hoisted in the air, a durasteel fist grasping his robe.

I looked down to see my friends on the floor, crimson fluid leaking out of their pale bodies.

Rage filled my strike as I rushed to decapitate the cyborg, but I was weak, vulnerable…

He threw the Chancellor to the side and grasped me with one of his arms. With another, he pushed back the hand holding my saber, and with another, he plucked my weapon from my hand, and hung it from his belt.

Another addition to his growing collection.

I knew I was going to die.

I readied myself for the pain that would overwhelm and kill me as the saber plunged into my beating heart.

It never came.

I looked down in Grievous's eyes, they were indescribable.

It was if a memory was summoning into his mind.

He shook his head quietly, and then looked back into my blank eyes…

I waited for what seemed like an eternity, at the same time as being frightened, I was trying to fathom what was happening in the cyborg's mind.

Grievous snarled to life, and suddenly snapping electro cords snaked out from his wrist. The wriggling electro cords wrapped among my body, enveloping me into a cocoon.

And he just left me there.

Alone to the darkness of my thoughts.

Why had he done that?

Why had he sparred my life when he had killed countless others?

Why?

But I suddenly remember the solemn look in his eyes when he looked at me, something looked beneath their golden depths; was it recognition? Of what? He had no reason to spare me; I had bought a one-way ticket to his wrath…

But under the silent acknowledgment, I had seen another emotion, one I believed to be all but vanquished from the cyborg's forsaken soul…

Love.

But it wasn't for me.

As I hung there, ten feet from the ground, a silent tear of realization rolled down my cheek.

There was still life inside the cyborg.

And it was in terrible pain.


End file.
